Disclaimer: I do not own Sailor Moon. Enough said.
A/N: I hope you enjoy the story. It will feature Usagi/Rei/Minako and a very confused Hotaru.
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It was a very peaceful day in the Silver Millennium. Mamoru almost started skipping down the little garden path, the only thing stopping him the long training he received as the Earth's prince. He knew he should look dignified and benign and all the things princes were suppose too, but it was very difficult at this moment. After all... princes in love were no different then other men in love.
And he was so much in love! "With the most wonderful girl of all", he thought. Her beauty was only surpassed by the gentleness of her manner, by the goodness that shined in her eyes and the flashes of a peculiar mix of innocence and mischievousness he saw every time she smiled. The best thing of all was that she was already his! He couldn't believe his luck when he saw her, the girl he was betrothed to from birth. "I guess fate is on my side", he said at loud with a smile.
There she was... Usagi. Her long silver hair cascading down her back, in that funny hairstyle of hers that only made her more endearing. Her eyes were cornflower blue, but there were no cornflowers on moon and she only looked puzzled when he said that. The vegetation here looked like something out of a fairytale, tall, elegant and slender, but he recognized almost nothing here. He favored that of earth, even tough its beauty could not compare. Mamoru loved all things natural, but the wild and untamed look of earth's forest was what he loved. He guessed that was the same thing that drew him to Usagi.
Finally lifting his gaze from his lady love, he noticed she wasn't alone. By her side sat Ami, one of her Senshi protectors. He didn't know them very well; he met them only a few times, and all of those were formal occasions so he didn't speak with them. He didn't know Usagi much better, he had to admit, but that wasn't a problem - he fell in love with her at first sight. She was a beautiful and gentle princess, with good breeding and impeccable manners, and cute too... What else mattered, anyway?
Then he noticed Usagi's expression. She looked dreamy and had a far away look in her eyes... He'd never seen her like this (in all of the 4 times he saw her). It looked good on her, and he would approach her then and there if he hadn't heard her voice. She was reading something, but he couldn't quite understand the words from where he was standing - he only heard her tone. And it was so strange! It had a desperate quality too it, sounding almost ragged from the force of emotions that coursed through it. It sounded very vulnerable too and he was sure his princess would never be like that in front of him, so he crept closer trying to hear what she was saying.
It seemed she was reciting a poem, and he listened very carefully to what she was saying:
To a raven haired maiden,
A certain stranger,
You walked, with the sun
Dancing upon your hair,
Hair that is like midnight.
With hair to your waist
The sun performed
Its dazzling light show.
Winter's gray reign careless
Her violet eyes miss the sky
And I laugh to disguise my loneliness
And so it went, on and on, each verse sounding more desperate, until finally the tears started flowing down her cheeks... But never once did she stop talking. Mamoru could feel her feverish need, to somehow let out all the emotions that seemed to suffocate her.
The prince was stunned. He never imagined such depths to Usagi - he never imagined such depths to anyone. Raised in the earth's court, surrounded by gallant and glamorous relationship, he had never heard anything like this, and he realized he didn't feel for her like that. He never felt like that in his life, and looking at Usagi, he wasn't sure he wanted too.
But he knew one thing - he had to help her get what she wanted.
But what was that? Raven hair and purple eyes was all he had to go on, as he wasn't fool enough to let Usagi know he heard this, that he intruded on such a private moment. He tried listening some more, in hope he could get more clues, and true enough, his endeavors were rewarded when Ami spoke for the first time:
"You've got to tell her Usagi, you just have to. You can't go on like this, and you shouldn't - you deserve to be happy more then anyone else I know."
"Perhaps my friend, perhaps... But... I would only be rejected, and then I would feel so much worse... I look at her all the time, and I try to pick up any subtle hints or ANYTHING in her words, but there is nothing. She is my protector, like you are, and she loves me as a friend and as her princess, but she doesn't see me as a woman. I don't even know if she likes women. She's always so mysterious and serious and silent, I hardly know anything about her. And yet I still love her... And cannot stop... ", said Usagi, her sobs interrupting her words and becoming louder and louder.
Tears of sympathy in her big blue eyes, Ami took her princess's hand and spoke softly but firmly:
"Then you have to win her heart. You can't just sit and pine away, and anyway you are not like that. I am a coward, Usagi, and will probably never be loved back - but you are not like that. You are usually so brave and honest with your emotions - don't be like this when it's most important for your future. Your mother would never force you to marry against your wishes, but there still is the matter of the engagement... You have to tell her the truth. You can't lead the Earth's prince on; you saw how enchanted with you he was."
Mamoru decided he liked this Ami - everything she said was reasonable and true, and although only his pride was hurt, he still wished he knew Usagi loved someone else sooner. But he would heal, he already felt better - he had a mission! He would be Usagi's knight, and connect her to the one she loved - the violet eyed, raven haired Senshi.
But which one was that?
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